Since September 30, 2023, Netflix has added four short films to its lineup, which not only come from the eccentric director Wes Anderson but also cost the streaming service over a billion dollars. You can watch the trailer for the first of the four films here.
What kind of films are these? In total, Netflix has added four short films at the end of September, which are based on the fairy tales and fantasy stories of the author Roald Dahl. He is known for his fine, dark humor and surprising endings in his works.
Under the direction of Wes Anderson (Grand Budapest Hotel), one can rightly expect certainly good short films with a rather strange humor mixed with a melancholic overall atmosphere. Above all, however, the typical visual playfulness characteristic of Anderson awaits you.
We have embedded the trailer for the first and longest short film here for you:
This is the correct order to watch the films:
- I see something you don’t see – 39 minutes
- The Swan – 17 minutes
- The Pied Piper – 17 minutes
- Poison – 17 minutes
Netflix secured the rights to Roald Dahl’s stories quite a while ago, for over a billion dollars (via Moviepilot). Even if the short films weren’t so expensive to produce, they have been a billion-dollar project for the streaming service.
Netflix competitor Amazon reportedly paid “only” an estimated 250 million US dollars for the global TV rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels to work on a “Lord of the Rings” series (via Filmstarts).
Director Wes Anderson has been dreaming of adapting the short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
for two decades and quickly realized that a feature-length film was out of the question.
What is the first short film about? The first film deals with the story of a player, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), who wants to learn a trick that seems rather impossible. Without using his eyes, he wants to see through his fellow players to read their cards.
You can also see Dev Patel (Gawain from The Green Knight), Ben Kingsley (Trevor from Iron Man 3), and Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort from Harry Potter) in the cast. The actors will also appear in the other three films.
The writer and author Roald Dahl will also play a role in the short films, portrayed by Ralph Fiennes.
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